


Time flows onward

by Thief_in_the_Night



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grimdark, Hurt/Comfort, I'm sucker for a happy ending, It is Little Nightmares, Kinda, Little Nightmares II Spoilers, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:34:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29603925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thief_in_the_Night/pseuds/Thief_in_the_Night
Summary: Mono has been trapped in the some time loop for countless years, but to end it, something, or someone needs to change (bad summary).
Comments: 16
Kudos: 120





	1. Little Nightmare 2 - Breaking of the Loop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a short I wrote over the course of a day as a distraction from studying for a midterm. Spoilers for Little Nightmare's 2 btw, as well, some knowledge is needed for it, sorry if that deters you from reading it. Please enjoy responsibly.

Time is a fluid thing, being able to bend and twist, even looping around itself over and over again. Like all things however, time is not content to sit still, and like all things wishes to brick free of its restraints. The time loop of the boy Mono is no exception. 

For too long this pattern has continued; Mono finds and frees a young girl named Six, they journey together, growing closer as comrades only for their friendship to be broken when Six is taken by the Thin Man through Mono’s cowardness and inaction. Through guilt and grief, Mono journeys to the signal tower, coming across the Thin man, defeating him and journeying inside to find and free Six. As the tower collapses and transforms around them, Six and Mono run to escape, with a collapsing bridge as their last obstacle. Six makes it and catches Mono’s hand…

...only to let go, her mind darkened by the simple act of being taken by the Thin Man and at the betrayal of Mono, at him hiding as she was taken in the first place. Mono falls into the fleshy abyss, and wanders until he finds a chair, where he sits, growing older until he becomes the Thin Man, repeating the loop. 

This cycle has repeated endlessly, and countless iterations of Mono have existed, but each time the cycle restarts, a bit of pressure increases inside of the current Mono, the stress and emotions of the Mono’s of older timelines. Each Mono, through his powers and the power of the Signal tower, can feel this pressure physically, like a chain that's been wrapped tightly around his chest, and after countless iterations, this pressure has become too much for the young boy.

As the Thin Man, after being freed by his young self, walks into the bedroom where the two children are hiding, he quickly spots the young Six’s yellow raincoat. Seeing that her hiding place under a table isn’t working, Six dives for the bed, where Mono is hiding but fails and reaches out to her friend. Normally Mono’s fear and self doubt keep Mono from reaching out, keeping him paralyzed under the safety of the bed frame. The Mono in this timeline however, is different, the pressure that clenches his chest is too great. His fear of the Thin Man lessens, the cowardness he feels, the very reasoning for this paper bag mask vanishes and he feels compelled to act, his heart, no, his very soul demands that he act. He dives for Six’s hand, grabbing it with his right. The Thin Man, shocked at this new action is stunned for a moment before he uses his powers to draw in Six. As he’s being raised up alongside his friend, Mono grabs hold of the wooden bed frame, holding on to it with all his strength. Even as the Thin Man increases the pull, he still holds on, even as the agony begins to set in. 

The Wooden frame is old and splintered, the sharp needles cutting into his hand and under his nails. His wrists, elbows and shoulders are pulled as tight as possible, feeling as though they will be pulled apart any second, and Six, whether she knows it or not, has her nails dug into his wrist, so deep that he can feel the blood begin to flow out.  
But he holds on, for he knows that if Six is taken, the one person that has been there for him since as far back as he can remember, the pain of losing her will be greater than any physical pain. He turns to look at her, the fear is evident on her face and there are tears in her eyes. Through the pain, he smiles at her though she can’t see it through the bag on his head, and says seven words that has never been spoken in any previous iteration;

“Don’t worry, everythings going to be alright.”

As Mono continues to hold on, despite only delaying him maybe 10 seconds, The Thin Man’s patience runs dry; how dare this younger version of himself act where he hadn’t, why does he delay the inevitable? The Thin Man steps forward, grabbing Six with his left hand and swatting Mono with his right. The Young boy flies through the air, paper bag sailing from his head as he slams into the back wall before falling onto the bed motionless. 

The Thin Man huffs and vanishes, believing the task to be completed; he brings Six to the Signal tower, then Mono will travel the Pale city, defeat himself and enter the tower, where he will rescue Six, who will betray him to continue the cycle. What he doesn’t know however, is that the damage is already done. Six, for the first time is not worried about herself as she is grabbed by the Thin Man, and not stricken with anger at the betrayal of her so called friend as he hid as she was taken. No, this Six watched as her friend fought and struggled for her, and as she was being taken, she feared not for herself but for Mono, laying motionless, hoping that he was ok. 

As Six was taken, a Shadow of her was left behind. The Shadow of Six looks up to see Mono, pushing himself up from the old mattress on shaky arms, blood seeping from his right wrist and left hand. Unlike other Mono’s, whose face was one of guilt over his cowardice and sadness at the loss of Six, this Mono’s eyes were filled with Rage and Fury, static gathered in his eyes and he jumped off the bed. 

This Mono is angry, how dare the Thin Man take his friend, how dare this world take everything from him, hadn’t he suffered enough? He shakes his head and wipes the tears from his eyes, no more, he thinks to himself; he is going to the Signal tower and he is getting his friend back. He looks down at the shadow of Six, still looking at him from the floor. He smiles, “I’m coming Six, just hold on.” 

After treating his wounds, he travels the Pale city, running from its twisted citizens and from the Thin Man, the anger never leaves him and as he steps up from the sewers, facing the Signal tower, the Thin Man does what he always does; face his younger self. 

But as he walks towards him, he notices something; not only is the Shadow Six still with his younger self, standing a few feet behind him but Mono is walking towards him, snarling at him as if he were a beast. Mono uses his powers to push the Thin Man back, causing him to stumble back and fall onto his ass. The windows around them shatter and the electric wires burst and break as the static pulse destroys them. The Thin Man pauses, what was this power, he thinks to himself, where was it coming from, was his younger self always this strong? He gets up, using his powers to counter his younger self, fueling them with his hatred but it is quickly overwhelmed. Mono never really got anger, the feelings of fear, sadness and hate were emotions the Thin Man was used to, but raw anger, red hot rage, these were new emotions, and in his current state, Mono’s fury was increasing his power; Mono gathered whatever anger he had left, static leaping off of him like lighting and pushed it all out, taking all his anger, hate and frustration out on his enemy. 

The energy rippled through the air and ground, The Thin Man was obliterated, the buildings around Mono were pushed back, some breaking and collapsing and the street itself cracked and broke from where he was standing. 

Satisfied with his victory, the walk to the signal was one of silence, and as he entered the tower, found the monstrous version of Six and finally released her from her curse, it seemed as though history was going to repeat itself. As Mono looked down into the abyss below him, his grip on Six being the only thing keeping him up, Six began to think of the boy. She thought of how he had saved her from the Hunter’s house, from the Bullies at the school and how, though he had failed, he had fought and struggled with all his might to save her from the Thin Man, when she had been the most scared she had ever been. She could even feel the bandages wrapped around his wrist, and the dried blood that stained them, from where she had grabbed onto him like a lifeline.

She smiled as he looked up, there had been a stray thought of letting him go, of dropping him and leaving him to his fate but how could she do that to the person who had fought for her. She owed him too much to simply drop him into this nightmare, and she pulled him from the ledge, helping him get to his feet. The Flesh mounds which had once been the tower were furious and doubled its pursuit of the two. This was not supposed to happen, the Mass thought, he was supposed to fall!

As the two ran to the TV screen and Mono allowed the two to pass through, the tower shook; with no Thin Man, it would become unstable, it needed Mono’s unique powers to hold it together and as it collapsed, it wondered what had gone wrong. 

A city away, as the tower broke down and crumbled, two children stumbled out from a TV. Mono, getting up and looking around for danger turned to Six, only to be surprised when the young girl wrapped her arms around his neck. She never really spoke to him, but he knew from the tightness of the hug and the way she was crying into his neck that she had been worried about him and happy he was here. He smiled and returned the hug.

“See, I told you everything was going to be alright.”

She laughed quietly, and as they stood there, Mono could feel the pressure in his chest disappear, feeling as if he could breathe for the first time after a lifetime of holding his breath. 

*Growl* 

They separated, Mono giggling as Six’s face turned red. 

“Hungry?”

Six nodded, and as they turned to look for food, they saw what looked like Six’s Shadow, looking down at a flier on the floor. Mono walked to it as the shadow disappeared, and he picked up the flier as he read it.

“Have you ever heard of a place called ‘The Maw’ before?”

Six shook her head, seeming she was ignorant of the place as much as he was. 

As they gathered their things, as well as trying to find out where they were, the wheel of time spun again for Mono, this time however, instead of being stuck in the proverbial mud, it broke free. For the first time in countless iterations, Mono had a future that didn’t involve the signal tower, and as the two children planned their next move, Mono smiled to himself, for the first time in a long time, it felt good to be alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said up at the top, I wrote, edited and posted this in a day, and I only edited it myself so sorry if there's grammar problems, I not so good at the English (despite it being my first language)....I blame being put in French immuration school from K-6. I loved Little nightmares 2 and when I wanted to write a short I thought of this. I have left the chapter numbers as a question mark cause I'm not sure if I want to keep writing this story but better to leave it open then to close the door on it, or I might edit it later as part of a series. Post any comments, even hate can be useful in the editing process.


	2. Adventure Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six and Mono plan for the next stage of their journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, here's the next chapter. Those with a high passive perception might have noticed that I added some tags and the "Violence" warning. This is mostly for the future; The world of Little Nightmares is messed up and I'd rather have the warnings now then forget to add them later and get some angry comments.

Six sat on a chair, watching as Mono looked over a map of the Pale City. They had found it among the drawers in the abandoned apartment they had stumbled into after escaping the tower about three days ago. Turns out; they were still in the Pale City, but along its outskirts, close to the river they had crossed on that door. 

They had decided to stay in the apartment for a short time, it was safe….relatively speaking, it was warm, dry, with food that had yet to spoil and water was available due to the rain outside. It was the perfect hideout for them, at least until the riots outside died down. 

Looking out the window, Six could still see the viewers across in other buildings running wild. When Mono had rescued her, the Signal Tower had collapsed and destroyed the broadcasts that kept the people of the city pacified, without that broadcast they were tearing into anything and everyone around them. She was glad they weren’t out there, it felt odd to stay in a normal house though, before staying here the closest places to a normal house she’d stayed in was either Hunter’s Cabin or The Nest…...and those places could burn for all she cared. 

“Dang it.”

Six looked over to Mono; he had a confused look on his face, one she was sure he had worn before, only visible now that the paper bag mask was gone. When she saw him in the Signal Tower, she almost didn’t recognize him without it, it had become his face in her mind. 

She giggled to herself; with his face covered for so long, he had gotten used to people not seeing his facial expressions, being able to hide them behind the mask. Without it, he now seemed to wear his face on his sleeve so to speak and the wide range of them was fun to watch. 

How that paper bag survived all that it did though, she would never know. It had gone through blows, the rain, and it had even been underwater for goodness sake, and still it seemed to hold its shape…...maybe it made a better helmet then she thought. 

“Six,” yes that was her name, “I think I found a way to the docks, can you come take a look?”

She jumped from her chair and walked over to the map, it had pencil drawings all over it, some semi-erased, others showing what could be safe or dangerous spots and routes. 

“It’ll be a bit tricky, but if we stick to the rooftops I think this path will take us right to the boats. We can even avoid places like the school if we do that.”

The School...Six almost started sneering at the very mention of that place. The way she had been treated by the bullies there, the way they had left her hanging there….how Mono had rescued her back then, she’ll never forget it.

_She was hanging there, her face, her arms, her chest, they all hurt, and she was sure that bruises covered her skin. It hurt to breathe and hanging by her legs was starting to hurt them too._

_She could almost still hear them, two of the odd porcelain students who had captured her. She had been so out of it though, that she hadn’t heard Mono come running in, hammer dragging along the floor. He killed the Bullies that kept her prisoner, set up a paper towel bed under her and had gotten her down. He had then woken her up and in her fear, she had started to thrash, kicking and punching in almost every direction._

_“Six, it’s me, it’s me!”_

_She calmed down, seeing the familiar paper bag she realized that this was Mono, had he rescued her? She looked behind him to see the ‘corpses’ of two Bullies, had he killed them, the same boy who had cried on their door raft for having to kill the Hunter? She looked back at him, and she could see his head tilt to the left, “Are….I won’t ask if you’re ok, but are you in a lot of pain?”_

_She hadn’t realized it at the time but she looked as bad as she had felt; a black eye, busted lip, purple markings that were seen with her rolled up sleeves, and her legs felt like jelly, seems being strung up by them had caused more damage than she thought, though the only part of them that really hurt was the rope burns. She nodded, she hurt all over and she wasn’t sure she’d be any help going forward. This is it, she thought to herself, this is where Mono leaves me behind. It is what she would do, having a companion was nice, but if they couldn’t pull their own weight, then they normally just drag you down. The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat had left her behind when she had taken a hit, and most Children learned this hard lesson early._

_Mono sighed and stood up, but what she didn’t expect was for him to put his hand out for her. Did he still want her to travel with him? But she could barely move, how could she help him?_

_“I’m sure there's a nurse’s office around here somewhere, we just have to find it.” Mono bent down when he noticed that she was just staring at him and put her left arm around his shoulders. She winced in pain but was more shocked at the boy, was he helping her, even though she couldn’t help him?_

_He turned to her and somehow she knew he was smiling at her, “Come on, we’ll get you some help.”_

Turns out that ‘help’ had to wait until they made it to the hospital, all the while Six had to dodge Bullies and the Teacher with Mono half carrying her due to her injuries but the boy had made her a priority where any other child would have left her behind. 

Six smiled at the memory, despite the pain, it was one of her favorites, while she had never told him, she would be forever grateful that he saved her that day. She turned to look at Mono, who was grinning at her, she shrugged, asking what was wrong.

“Nothing, I’ve just been trying to talk to you for a couple minutes.” He smiled mockingly and crossed his arms. “Is your head ok now that it’s back from the clouds.”

Six blushed and pouted, how dare he make fun of her while she was thinking about how nice he was, what a jerk! She wacked his arm, not hard but enough to know that he had earned her wrath. 

“I’m joking, I’m joking.” His smiling face turned concerned, “How’s your hunger?”

She frowned and put a hand to her stomach, it wasn’t bad right now, but she could feel it. Ever since her rescue from the tower, she always felt hungry….most of the time it was fine, not really starving per say but she never really felt full, like she could always eat just a little bit more. 

The flier for The Maw had advertised that it was ‘A place where you will never go hungry’, and while Six knew that nothing was too good to be true in this world, if this hunger really was never ending, maybe there was something that could cure her at The Maw. The Maw however, is apparently an artificial island, and so they needed to find a boat that would take them there. 

“Getting on a boat will be tricky but once we’re on there will be lots of places to hide. I met one child who came to the Pale City on a small boat and he told me how to go unnoticed on one.”

Six looked at him questioningly, he smiled at her reaction and blushed, “I saved him when I was leaving the city for the forest awhile ago. Never knew what happened to him, but I hope he’s ok.”

Six nodded and looked at the map; like Mono said, there were multiple paths to the docks but they'd have to go over the roofs in order to stay safe. It’ll take them all day, maybe even multiple days if they had to go slow but getting there safely was more important than getting there quickly. Six kneeled down and pointed at one route; it was the longest but it allowed them to keep atop to the high rises, whereas the other routes dipped down or went to ground level. 

“Yeah, that's the one I was thinking about too, we’ll prepare tonight and leave tomorrow.”

Six shook her head and held up a hand.

“You want to wait one more day? But what if your hunger gets worse?”

Six waved her hand and shook her head, then made a static noise with her mouth.

“I get it, you want me to get in one more day of practice. We’ll leave the day after tomorrow then...plus it’ll be nice to have a bed for one more day.”

Six smiled and nodded. They mostly slept on the chairs in the living room, but the cushions were some of the softest material she’d slept on in a while, one more night of comfy living wasn’t the worst plan.

As she went back to her chair, where a stale pack of crackers served as her dinner, she looked on as Mono prepared to practice his powers. She watched as static gathered around Mono and in a jerking motion, he teleported about a foot and a half forward. Six had been shocked at Mono’s powers, especially since they seemed to resemble the Thin Man’s what with the static. It was Mono’s theory that since they were both affected by the Signal Tower, as Mono had been in the same TV hallway as the Thin Man, they had developed similar powers. Six wasn’t as sure as her super powered friend but she really didn’t have any alternative explanations unless the two were somehow related.

Mono had mentioned before that he didn’t remember his parents, so it could be possible that the Thin Man had been his father or maybe an uncle. While her gut told her that she was on the right track, it seemed off to somehow connect her friend to the person who had scared her more than any other being she had met. 

Well whatever the reason, it would remain a mystery; Mono said that he had obliterated the Thin Man on his way to the Signal Tower, so any possible answers were now permanently out of reach. Six sighed as she looked out the window again, seeing the rain coming down, harder than ever. As much as she needed a cure for this hunger plaguing her, she hated the idea that Mono was going through all this for her, she had found a friend in the boy, and the last thing she wanted to do was lose him because of her problems. 

Then again, she thought to herself with a smile, he would probably just follow her anyway. 

So far Mono had demonstrated that he could move between TVs, teleport short distances and had some power to push or pull small objects. It's possible that he had more powers, but right now he had no real space….or test subjects to test his powers farther, so these three would have to do. As well, Mono had mentioned that he had broken buildings with his powers when he fought with the Thin Man, though Six continued to remain doubtful. 

_She looked at him, a look of skepticism on her face._

_“It’s true! I got all angry and I blew the building away during our epic battle. I even broke the road under us.”_

_The look remained, with her eyes getting narrower as she struggled to believe him. The fact that he was standing here next to her meant that him beating the Thin Man was true but to destroy multiple buildings by accident….Mono caught her look and started to whine._

_“You believe me right? It's all true, every word.”_

_Her slow nod did nothing to convince him._

Regardless of whether he was telling the truth or not, he has said that his powers weren’t what they used to be when he fought the Thin Man. Their current theory was that the Signal Tower boasts powers, or at least his powers, and with its destruction his powers have weakened. They were still there though, and he was getting better at using them everyday. 

As she pulled another cracker from the pack it jerked for a moment, before flying from her hands and into the waiting hands of Mono.

“Success!” He held the cracker above his head for a moment, celebrating his victory with a grin and a bite of his price.

Six shook her head, grabbing another one from the pack. As happy she was for Mono’s powers and his joy at using them, she felt even more useless than before. She had helped him countless times on their adventure sure, and it wasn’t like she had nothing to bring to the table; she was smart, nimble and a faster runner and longer jump then Mono. With his powers however, he could make up for any contributions she had with his abilities. 

She frowned, with his powers Mono could practically go where-ever he wanted and any child or group would give their left arms to have Mono around...and then there was her, with a hunger that was gnawing her stomach and her brain. Faint whispers in the back of mind told her so; Mono was going to abandon her, after all what child would want a friend they had to rescue time and time again, and when he did, she was going to be alone again. Worthless, helpless, waste of….

“Six?”

Six turned to look to her left, Mono was sitting next to her, he must have jumped up while she was thinking. With her mind clear she realized that she was crying, she wiped the tears and looked away.

“Are you ok? You’re crying, is it the hunger?”

Six shook her head, she didn’t want to tell him….how could she tell him, that she felt worthless, that he would be better off without her.

“Six, whatever's wrong we can fix it.” 

She hugged her legs, tightening in on herself. Mono frowned, he turned to grab her hand when something stopped him.

“Worthless.”

Mono froze, the sound stopping every muscle he had.

“Six?”

She hugged her legs tighter, and turned her back to him. She wasn’t making any noise but the way her shoulders were shaking, she was most likely crying. 

Mono stopped, he hadn’t heard her voice for a while, not since the door raft. 

_They had just finished killing the Hunter, and they both sat on the door to get across the river. Mono was still crying, he hated the idea of killing, it seemed so...permanent but he didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want to lose his silent companion either._

_“Sorry,” Mono had said, wiping his eyes under his paper bag. “I...I know I should keep quiet. Are you ok though, my arms still hurt from the gun, how are yours?”_

_His companion said nothing, “I get it, I talk too much, it's just….I haven't really had someone to talk to in a while, and I’m rambling. Sorry, you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, I get it. I probably wouldn’t want to talk to me either.”_

_The girl bit her lower lip and looked away, Mono looked down and sighed, a look of sadness on his face though it was masked by the bag._

_“Don’t like it.” _

_Mono turned to the girl surprised. This was the first time she had spoken to him._

_“Don’t like what...me?_

_She shook her head, “My voice, I don’t like it….it’s ugly.”_

_Mono was confused; her voice was ugly? Did she really think that? It didn't sound ugly, if anything with its soft tune it sounded pretty, like the music of a ballerina music box he once heard….he wasn’t going to tell her that though, partly because he didn’t want to argue with her and make her mad and partly because it was embarrassing to admit._

_“Well, ok….I get it, don’t worry I’ll do the talking for both of us. Is that alright with you?”_

_The girl turned and nodded, a small smile on her face._

_“Can….can I at least get your name…..it’s ok if you don’t want to tell me, I get that you don’t like talking, but I kinda don’t like calling you girl in my head.”_

_She giggled lightly, “Six.”_

_“Six, like the number?” She nodded, “Ok! Thanks for telling me. My name is Mono, it's good to meet you Six.”_

Mono liked that memory, it was the one time he heard her talk outside of some grunts or noises. He frowned, for her to talk now after everything….worthless...she was talking about herself. 

“Six...you’re not worthless. ”

She wasn’t listening to him it seemed. Mono huffed, seems drastic measures were needed. Mono reached up, grabbed the back of Six’s hood and pulled it down, revealing the mess of black hair under it. 

She wiped around, a look of shock and slight anger on face that contrasted the tears still running down her face, but the anger left as Mono pointed a finger at her. 

“No! You’re not worthless; you're smarter than me, a faster runner than me, and you notice things that I don’t. If it wasn’t for you, I’d be dead or worse a dozen times over, you don’t freeze up like I do, and you’ve saved me just as much as I’ve saved you. You’re amazing Six, and I’m lucky to be your friend.”

Her hair was parted, letting Mono see her emerald eyes watering up. Mono hugged her, “Never think you’re worthless, cause you’re not to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

She hugged him back, silently happy to have her friend here with her. Mono looked up from the hug to see Six’s shadow, sitting on the back of the chair, watching them. They didn’t know what...she...it….was, but Mono had seen it when Six had been taken by the Thin Man. Was it the reason Six was thinking such bad things?

Mono frowned at it, static unknowingly gathering in his eyes. The shadow tilted its head and vanished, whatever it was, it was gone now. Mono and Six stayed on the chair that night, sitting next to one another, enjoying their safe haven and the friendship they had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter down. As I've said in the comments for Chapter 1, I am in my last year of Uni right now and March is crunch month for me so there's a decent gap between this chapter and Chapter 3, that's way. WELP, I hope you enjoyed, stay safe out there and I'll see you next time.....hopefully.
> 
> Peace.


End file.
